Over 1000
years ago, around the time when The Danes inhabited this part of the North, a
great worm was said to have infested the forests around Godeland and Beck
Hole.

It had a
mouth like a dragon, was the length of 27 men laid head-to-toe, and had the
girth of the largest oak tree in Buber Wood. Its scaly body gave off a scent
likened to would garlic, which can still be smelt in the woods near the Murk
Esk to this day. Wherever it slithered it left a trail of slime, and in this
trail sprang up the herb called Wormwood (1).
Wormwood was used as a stomach tonic to expel hookworm and to treat gout, and
can still be found in Jenny Bank Wood.

The Worm
lived in deep holes around Beck Hole and it is said that when iron ore was
mined in the valley, in the 1850's, the minors who drove drifts deep into the
ground in Scar Wood came across deeper holes that disappeared so far into the
hillsides that they could only have been made by a very large, very powerful
creature.

The Worm
lived on cattle, sheep and young maidens. The people became so concerned
about the appetite of the worm that they asked Roland, the Danish warrior, to
help them by slaying the Warm.

He agreed,
but in order to lure the Worm from his hole he asked for a maiden to be tied
to an elder tree as bait for the Worm.

The maidens
name was Kitty, and she was said to be very beautiful. When Roland rode into
the woods he was stunned by the vision of Sarkless Kitty (2) caught helplessly against a tree.

Fortified
by the virtues of the Holy Seal which he always carried Roland charged
through the tumbling waters of the river, past the twisted oaks and through
the Wormwood and into the clearing where the worm was already advancing on
Kitty. For over half a night and half a day he fought a fierce battle with
the worm while Kitty watched in terror.

Finally,
towards dusk, Roland slayed the Worm with a fatal blow to the neck, and he
rode away with Kitty at his side.

For many
years later, and even to this day, legend had it that if you walk in the
woods around Beck Hole at dusk and hear the name 'Kitty' being carried on the
wind, you may be struck down with hookworm.